latest additions to your library

In hopes they will finally be printed this time, I've pre-ordered Lee Friedlander's books "Workers" and "Pickup". This time, I ordered through Photo-eye...signed copies. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
In hopes they will finally be printed this time, I've pre-ordered Lee Friedlander's books "Workers" and "Pickup". This time, I ordered through Photo-eye...signed copies. Keeping my fingers crossed.

And they're here! Both books arrived together. Both excellent. Especially "Pickup". It's filled with standard Friedlander quirky vision and humor. And the signatures are real signatures on the title page, not post-it notes bound into the book like a tiny warts on a page.
 
Yeah, publishers do not make a lot of money on photobooks in the first place and the audience is tiny. Not bootleg material.

Errrrr, I'm not so sure about that as a blanket statement. Yeah, loads of photo books never appreciate in value. But there are certain ones that skyrocket once they go out of print. And it makes sense, really--they are usually printed in limited numbers, they often have been printed at high quality, and they appeal to a market that has a perceived (if even only by themselves) sense of taste and disposable income and so are willing to pay a collector's premium.

For instance, I have a book by Guy Bourdin, which I purchased off Amazon in the UK for about £25. For a while, you couldn't find a used copy online for less than $600. They've since dropped a bit, but are still well north of $200 for every one I've seen (the cheapest used copy on Amazon is currently $340). I've got a massive volume of Seydou Keïta's work that I bought on clearance at the Koenig Books bargain basement for £40. It's being advertised used on Amazon right now for $940 minimum. I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing a copy of Pieter Hugo's The Hyena & Other Men, which sold for £24 on Amazon UK--I kept telling myself I'd get a copy when I had some more spare cash...until it was too late. You can now find a used copy on Amazon listed at $340--and that's a bargain, as for a while they were up over $700 minimum.

And I have several other photo books in my own personal collection that I bought just because I liked the work, and now apparently, based on asking prices online, have become quite sought after and "valuable". I joked for a while that rather than investing in stocks, I'd be much better off buying new photo books and keeping them in their shrink wrapping. Of course, you'd actually have to find a buyer willing to pay the asking price or it's not "worth" the prices I'm seeing online.

It's really fascinating to watch, frustrating if you want to get a copy of a particular photographer's work--but aren't a well-heeled and obsessive collector, and kind of fun trying to anticipate which books will appreciate in value. Although I *never* buy a book solely for that reason, I have to like the *work*, not what it might fetch on resale one day.

I've declined to buy a couple of books for that reason, that I was sure would jump hugely in price--and ended up feeling a twinge of remorse when they did exactly that later. The only one I *truly* regret was passing on the reprint of Cartier-Bresson's The Decisive Moment. You could get it new for £70 when it came out, and I didn't buy a copy because I already had all the photos in various HCB books I owned, and I didn't fancy the printing of the photos--which were reproduced to match as closely as possible the way they would have appeared when the original book was published, and so by modern standards weren't of the highest quality. Now you can't touch a copy of that for less than $700. It *is* a nice artefact in its own right, and as a photographer worth having even if you do have all the work in various other volumes.
 
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Errrrr, I'm not so sure about that as a blanket statement. Yeah, loads of photo books never appreciate in value. But there are certain ones that skyrocket once they go out of print.
I wasn't talking about out of print books. Of course, I know some OOP books go up... I have more than a few.
And it makes sense, really--they are usually printed in limited numbers, they often have been printed at high quality, and they appeal to a market that has a perceived (if even only by themselves) sense of taste and disposable income and so are willing to pay a collector's premium.
Right, and that limited audience isn't worth chasing when it comes to bootlegging... especially when collectors will know the difference.
For instance, I have a book by Guy Bourdin, which I purchased off Amazon in the UK for about £25. For a while, you couldn't find a used copy online for less than $600. They've since dropped a bit, but are still well north of $200 for every one I've seen (the cheapest used copy on Amazon is currently $340). I've got a massive volume of Seydou Keïta's work that I bought on clearance at the Koenig Books bargain basement for £40. It's being advertised used on Amazon right now for $940 minimum. I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing a copy of Pieter Hugo's The Hyena & Other Men, which sold for £24 on Amazon UK--I kept telling myself I'd get a copy when I had some more spare cash...until it was too late. You can now find a used copy on Amazon listed at $340--and that's a bargain, as for a while they were up over $700 minimum.
I am well aware. I have things I paid $300 for now that are $3000. $40 turned into $700, etc. But who is really going to bootleg one copy of these to make money? It seems to me there are better bootlegging opportunities out there. I mean, that bootleg book would be a work of art in itself really. Check out this bootleg...


And it is even $300!
And I have several other photo books in my own personal collection that I bought just because I liked the work, and now apparently, based on asking prices online, have become quite sought after and "valuable".
Yes, I think this happens to most photobook buyers eventually... unless you have terrible taste.
I joked for a while that rather than investing in stocks, I'd be much better off buying new photo books and keeping them in their shrink wrapping. Of course, you'd actually have to find a buyer willing to pay the asking price or it's not "worth" the prices I'm seeing online.
That's it, the audience is small. Tastes change over time. Who really knows. I really do have to look at what I do not need to own and see if they've went up.
It's really fascinating to watch, frustrating if you want to get a copy of a particular photographer's work--but aren't a well-heeled and obsessive collector, and kind of fun trying to anticipate which books will appreciate in value. Although I *never* buy a book solely for that reason, I have to like the *work*, not what it might fetch on resale one day.
I feel the exact same way...
I've declined to buy a couple of books for that reason,
I recently did that with the Trent Parks Monument book. I knew it would just go up and up, but I just didn't really want it.
that I was sure would jump hugely in price--and ended up feeling a twinge of remorse when they did exactly that later. The only one I *truly* regret was passing on the reprint of Cartier-Bresson's The Decisive Moment. You could get it new for £70 when it came out, and I didn't buy a copy because I already had all the photos in various HCB books I owned, and I didn't fancy the printing of the photos--which were reproduced to match as closely as possible the way they would have appeared when the original book was published, and so by modern standards weren't of the highest quality. Now you can't touch a copy of that for less than $700.
Jeez, really? I have the reprint and would not have guessed that. It is funny. I feel the same way about that book (except I didn't have any other HCB books that were comparable). I bought it just because it is a classic.
It *is* a nice artefact in its own right, and as a photographer worth having even if you do have all the work in various other volumes.
 
I stopped buying books because they are heavy. As long as you don't move around and stay put in one place, OK. Otherwise, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to own thousands of kgs of books.
 
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Okay, maybe not *the* latest (that would be Gloire Immortelle by Rachidi Bissiriou and Pictures of People by Nicholas Nixon), but just *part* (about 1/3) of the big-ass pile of photography books I need to build a bookshelf for one day soon.
 

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Towell, Larry The Mennonites: Biographical Sketch. Phaidon Press Limited , Regents Wharf All Saints Street London. 1901 pages. ISBN: 0-7148-3961-2.

BTW- for anyone who might own the first edition, did it come with a dust cover? I know it has a slip cover, but depending on my searches, it looks like might or might not have come with a dust jacket too?

Filmtwit posted in January (Apologies for some reason "it" wouldn't pick up the quote for my reply.


Also looking at this book and I wonder if it was originally published in two "forms" ?
Clearly here it was slip cased with no dust cover:
London: Phaidon Press, 2000. First edition. Cloth. Small clothbound quarto in matching cloth slipcase. Issued without dustwrapper. Unpaginated.

But two copies currently on ABE both state: Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition.
One carries a sellers image which is clearly a dust jacket, as stated.
All above are Phaidon Press, London, England, 2000

BUT (again) Amazon UK is listing, at a much more affordable price:
2022 The Mennonites (a second expanded edition), GOST Books, UK
 
Towell, Larry The Mennonites: Biographical Sketch. Phaidon Press Limited , Regents Wharf All Saints Street London. 1901 pages. ISBN: 0-7148-3961-2.

BTW- for anyone who might own the first edition, did it come with a dust cover? I know it has a slip cover, but depending on my searches, it looks like might or might not have come with a dust jacket too?

Filmtwit posted in January (Apologies for some reason "it" wouldn't pick up the quote for my reply.


Also looking at this book and I wonder if it was originally published in two "forms" ?
Clearly here it was slip cased with no dust cover:
London: Phaidon Press, 2000. First edition. Cloth. Small clothbound quarto in matching cloth slipcase. Issued without dustwrapper. Unpaginated.

But two copies currently on ABE both state: Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition.
One carries a sellers image which is clearly a dust jacket, as stated.
All above are Phaidon Press, London, England, 2000

BUT (again) Amazon UK is listing, at a much more affordable price:
2022 The Mennonites (a second expanded edition), GOST Books, UK
I have the GOST version. It has the cloth cover. This edition is $60 still. The Phaedon Press version is indeed out of print. Here is the dust cover version:



and there indeed does appear to be two editions of the Phaidon Press version:

"Limited first edition, one of an unnumbered limitation in publisher’s original slipcase, precedes first trade edition, inscribed in the year of publication by Towell on the colophon page, “Larry Towell, Toronto, 30/11/00,” with 115 rich duotones, “an exquisitely printed, atmospheric” work (Graphis)."

 
I have the GOST version. It has the cloth cover. This edition is $60 still. The Phaedon Press version is indeed out of print. Here is the dust cover version:



and there indeed does appear to be two editions of the Phaidon Press version:

"Limited first edition, one of an unnumbered limitation in publisher’s original slipcase, precedes first trade edition, inscribed in the year of publication by Towell on the colophon page, “Larry Towell, Toronto, 30/11/00,” with 115 rich duotones, “an exquisitely printed, atmospheric” work (Graphis)."


I rather thought I may be late to this particular party 🤣
 
Latest not an acquisition.
I have been looking, but not digging just keeping a watch, for "The English" Ian Berry 1978 his first book.
Browsing a new shop, to me, I saw one, great, £195 (but is is signed) so perhaps not, this follows up the above comments on prices, Looking on-line that's about right, anyway I had a good browse through it so all is not lost.
 
I've just picked up 3 Ansel Adam's hardbacks for the princely sum of £4 from local charity shops. They look hardly read and although I already had a good number of his books I had none of these. We really do live in a world where much is not valued.
 
Latest not an acquisition.
I have been looking, but not digging just keeping a watch, for "The English" Ian Berry 1978 his first book.
Browsing a new shop, to me, I saw one, great, £195 (but is is signed) so perhaps not, this follows up the above comments on prices, Looking on-line that's about right, anyway I had a good browse through it so all is not lost.

Where was this shop? I'm not going to run out and buy the book (particularly as I'm currently in the US), but do they have a good stock of photo books? I'm always looking for places (particularly in the London area) to trawl when I'm back in the UK. It's been a bit difficult to find a consistently *great* source of second-hand photo books to browse ever since Photo Books International, which specialised in books of photography, closed down several years back. (And I lost my favourite source of new photo books when the Koenig shop on Charing Cross Road shut.)
 
Where was this shop? I'm not going to run out and buy the book (particularly as I'm currently in the US), but do they have a good stock of photo books? I'm always looking for places (particularly in the London area) to trawl when I'm back in the UK. It's been a bit difficult to find a consistently *great* source of second-hand photo books to browse ever since Photo Books International, which specialised in books of photography, closed down several years back. (And I lost my favourite source of new photo books when the Koenig shop on Charing Cross Road shut.)

Just a touch north of London, York, but the wonders of the WWW make it nearer (if only booksellers would update their on-line stock).


Photobooks just one section but as they specialise in first editions of all genres usually worth a look, I have linked to the Berry for anyone browsing.

There are several bookshops in York although some have closed over recent years, Jeanette Ray is another local purveyor of quality S/H with a good photobook section.
Having visited this week I can vouch for the on-line list not being comprehensive of current stock, ;) nice copy of Martin Parr Fashion Magazine, but of course as with all such specialists at around the current market price. Restricted hours if anyone is visiting just check.

Oxfam have two book only shops and Amnesty another where the pricing is more competitive and being a fairly "well off" area, check the house prices, stock can be of good quality.
Picked up "Roger Fenton" The Aperture Master Series which is not that common over here for £10 there, Amnesty, I have seen them UK listed for around £50.

I too miss Photobooks International
 
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